March/April 2018

Article Excerpts

Brian Goslow, Managing Editor bgoslow@artscopemagazine.com Welcome to our 12th Anniversary Issue. When our first March/April issue arrived in 2006, it did so with the mission of striving to fill a void in the general arts community. “We have set the bar high for Artscope and we promise to do our best with determination, hard work and integrity to gain your trust and to exceed the expectations of our readers, advertisers and the arts community,” wrote publisher Kaveh Mojtabai in our ...

FEATURED MUSEUM THE 2018 PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART BIENNIAL PORTLAND MUSEUM OF ART 7 CONGRESS SQUARE PORTLAND, MAINE THROUGH JUNE 3 by Greg Morell Biennials are an excuse for established institutions to let their hair down and give voice to the more radical wing of artistic endeavor. For their 2018 Biennial exhibition, the Portland Museum of Art elected to anoint Nat May as chief curator. Fluent with the current wave of the Maine avant-garde, May for many years steered the ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH STEPHANIE ROBERTS-CAMELLO: SURFACE TENSION COTUIT CENTER FOR THE ARTS 4404 FALMOUTH ROAD (RT. 28) COTUIT, MASSACHUSETTS MARCH 24 THROUGH APRIL 21 by Flavia Cigliano With her very first words discussing the encaustic paintings in her exhibit, “Surface Tension,” artist Stephanie Roberts-Camello immediately cited the appeal of experimentation. She is not intimidated by the unpredictability of experimentation — she actually seems to thrive on both the disquiet and the exhilaration it can bring on. Three series of ...

REVIEW ART IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET, 1989 TO TODAY ICA, BOSTON 25 HARBOR SHORE DRIVE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MAY 20 by Suzanne Volmer It was surprising when the ICA, Boston opened its Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed Seaport location in 2006 to see the architectural feature of a media lab centrally located inside. As a foretelling note, it spoke not only of the ICA’s institutional intention to position itself as an important archive of performance art, but the dizzying ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH JONG-YOON KIM by Marcia Santore Paper folded into curvilinear shapes bordering on the impossible; paper structures balanced between Escher and exquisite architectural models. Jong-Yoon Kim’s sculpture leaves viewers entranced and wondering. Originally from Korea, Kim earned a BFA in ceramic art from Hongik University in Seoul. “My big topic was time — working with a traditional Korean geometric pattern meaning Eternity. I felt the lack of communication with viewers because most of my ceramic installation works ...

REVIEW 2018 MEMBERS PRIZE SHOW CAMBRIDGE ART ASSOCIATION 25 LOWELL STREET, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS by Franklin W. Liu In the years since its Founding in 1944, the Cambridge Art Association has enthusiastically presented an annual exhibition to celebrate the unique talents of its over 500 members. This year, out of 333 works submitted for the show’s consideration, 43 diversified artworks varying in medium and subject matter were selected by CAA’s guest juror, Joseph Carroll (Carroll & Sons, Boston, MA), for exhibition ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH THE COURIER: TALES FROM THE GREAT WAR NEW HAVEN MUSEUM 114 WHITNEY AVENUE NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT THROUGH NOVEMBER 11 (VETERAN’S DAY) by Tom Soboleski “Here and there a farmhouse burned, throwing a deep red illumination into the night … Here on a perfect summer night ‘neath the quiet stars, the concentrated hatred of nations created a storm of such deadly violence as to stun one’s reason.” — excerpt from the World War I diary of Philip ...

REVIEW INVENTUR — ART IN GERMANY, 1943-55 SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS GALLERY HARVARD ART MUSEUMS 32 QUINCY STREET CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH JUNE 3 by James Foritano Our quintessential American humorist Samuel Clemens — better known under his pen name, Mark Twain — upon hearing that his obituary had appeared in a prominent newspaper, is reported to have announced from his own public podium: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” It was equally assumed that when the Second World War ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH MARC WINNAT WORK ON VIEW AT VERMONT ARTISAN DESIGNS 108 MAIN STREET BRATTLEBORO, VERMONT by Marguerite Serkin At a time when generalities and purposeful ambiguity often dominate our cultural discourse, the acrylic paintings of Marc Winnat offer welcome relief. The precision and detail of Winnat’s paintings celebrate their subjects with directness, and with a certainty of substance and form. On view at Vermont Artisan Designs Gallery in Brattleboro, the current collection of Winnat’s paintings provides a ...

FEATURED ARTIST SELF-CONFESSED! THE INAPPROPRIATELY INTIMATE COMICS OF ALISON BECHDEL FLEMING MUSEUM OF ART UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 61 COLCHESTER AVENUE BURLINGTON, VERMONT THROUGH MAY 20 by Elayne Clift She’s a black belt in karate, a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award, an award-winning cartoonist and writer, Vermont’s Cartoonist Laureate, and what one critic called an “intellectual populist.” She is also an astute observer of the human condition who reveals an abundance of emotional intelligence, both personal and political, in ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH DANIEL KORNRUMPF FOR MORE INFORMATION: DANIELKORNRUMPF.COM by Don Wilkinson Last September, I visited Groundwork!, a shared workspace on the outskirts of downtown New Bedford. Over the last year or so, the lobby has become a de facto art gallery, an alternative space that rivals any exhibition venue in the city. It was there that I first saw the paintings of Daniel Kornrumpf and I was drawn in, so much so that I would eventually commission him ...

FEATURED GALLERY KARINE LÉGER LANOUE GALLERY 450 HARRISON AVE #31 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS MARCH 2 THROUGH APRIL 6 by Lisa Mikulski The Lanoue Gallery, Boston, presents “New Works by Karine Léger” — a show that will certainly fortify the minds and spirits of gallery goers. Canadian artist Karine Léger’s large-scale abstracts represent her expression of Quebec winter spaces and Icelandic landscapes. Simple and sparse in both palette and form, Léger’s shapes float across the canvas as if supported by some ethereal ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH JENNIFER VINEGAR AVERY FOR MORE INFORMATION: JENNIFERLAVERY.COM by J. Fatima Martins Jennifer Vinegar Avery is an intellectually formidable artist; the joie de vivre and zaniness seen in her art is not contrived entertainment. The name itself, Vinegar, is not a moniker — it’s real, and is a push-back against the “sugar and spice and everything nice” cliché applied to girls. “Clap your hands and say, Jennifer,” she wrote, “clap your hands and say Vinegar, it’s the ...

REVIEW VISITING THAHAB: NABIL (NABEELA) VEGA NEW BEDFORD ART MUSEUM/ARTWORKS! 608 PLEASANT STREET NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MARCH 25 by Don Wilkinson There is something particularly intriguing in one of the videos by Nabil (Nabeela) Vega, in which a figure is draped in a shimmering shroud of gold lame, their identity concealed, their face hidden. [Gender neutral pronouns are used at the request of the artist.] The cloaked figure is on a bridge over the Charles River, and the Hancock ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH HOWARD BARNES MILLER WHITE FINE ARTS 708 ROUTE 134 SOUTH DENNIS, MA FOR MORE INFORMATION: ARTBYBARNES.COM by Anne Daley In a small Kansas town in 1950, a seven-year-old boy hides behind the family garage, playing in the dirt. But he’s not creating fortresses for imaginary armies, nor sculpting imagined terrain on a distant planet; he’s learning to paint. With dust and soil as his medium, twigs and leaves as his tools and his own skin as ...

CORNERED: ROSEMARY LEBEAU by Brian Goslow Central Massachusetts-based Rosemary LeBeau works in several magical mediums — wall assemblages, objets d’art, vue d’optique, hand-made books, rust works — each of which brings her viewers to several sensory states, including the reawakening of memories and senses of favorite objects from years ago (for instance, the animals in her composition that hark back to Christmas displays of our youth) and pieced together objects to which she gives recognizable features that cause our natural ...

FEATURED EXHIBITION STITCH: SYNTAX/ACTION/REACTION NEW ART CENTER 61 WASHINGTON PARK NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MARCH 24 by Brian Goslow It’s only appropriate that the New Art Center — an institution that matches exhibitions with classroom instruction — is hosting “STITCH: Syntax/Action/Reaction,” an exhibition that will be a work-in-progress and offer a series of related public programs and events during its five-week run. The show, co-curated by Jessica Burko and Samantha Fields as part of New Art Center’s (NAC) ongoing Curatorial Opportunity ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH DESTINY PALMER WORK ON VIEW IN: STITCH: SYNTAX / ACTION / REACTION NEW ART CENTER 61 WASHINGTON PARK NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MARCH 24 #SAYHERNAME: WATCH US WERK VANDERMOOT GALLERY UNIVERSITY HALL 1815 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS MARCH 20 THROUGH APRIL 21 FOR MORE INFORMATION: DESTINYPALMER.COM by Donna Dodson Destiny Palmer is a rare artist-teacher. She is someone who loves working with young artists on the cusp of discovering their identities. Boston is lucky to have seen ...

UNIVERSITY SPOTLIGHT WILLIAM KENTRIDGE: UNIVERSAL ARCHIVE FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM 1073 NORTH BENSON ROAD FAIRFIELD, CONNECTICUT by Kristin Nord For nearly 50 years, the brilliant South African artist William Kentridge has made printmaking a major part of his studio practice, producing more than 300 works that range from etching, drypoint and engraving to silkscreen, lithograph and linocut. It is 75 of the latter employed by the artist, used as illustrations for Norton Lectures that he delivered at Harvard in 2012, ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH HEIDI GEIST FOR MORE INFORMATION: DIEGEISTART.COM by Eric Taubert Her name is Heidi Geist and she’s a self-confessed “Art Punk in the Craft Beer Sphere.” To her legions of adoring fans, she’s more familiarly known as ‘The Geist.’ Her paintings are colorful and loose, like a psychedelic liquid light show from a 1960s-era rock concert. They hint at the fluidity of consciousness, especially as it drifts towards the state of sleep, often with a glimmer of ...

ROBERT FREEMAN AND MAX STERN: MARDI GRAS INDIANS ADELSON GALLERIES BOSTON 520 HARRISON AVENUE BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS MARCH 2 THROUGH APRIL 29 by Molly Hamill When I spoke to him, Bob Freeman was sitting on a bench in the sun outside a gallery in Los Angeles. Freeman, who taught drawing and painting at Harvard in the 1980s and ‘90s, and whose work has been collected by the likes of the Museum of Fine Arts, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum and ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH KASEY APPLEMAN WORK ON VIEW IN: TIME MACHINES MARY COSGROVE DOLPHIN GALLERY WORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY 486 CHANDLER STREET WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MARCH 8 SANCTUARY GALLERY 263, 263 PEARL STREET CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH MARCH 17 FOR MORE INFORMATION: KASEYAPPLEMAN.COM by Brian Goslow For as long as she can recall, Kasey Davis Appleman has been, “a collector, altar-maker and memento keeper,” the origin of her assemblages and “poetry objects” harking back to the days when she’d decorate cigar ...

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT VICTOR PACHECO: A BEAUTIFUL CONNECTION KRIKORIAN GALLERY WORCESTER CENTER FOR CRAFTS 25 SAGAMORE ROAD WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS MARCH 15 THROUGH APRIL 28 by Brian Goslow While the initial response to seeing one of Victor Pacheco’s frog sculptures is to smile or laugh, there’s a deeper meaning behind the amphibious forms — they’re intended to turn a mirror on society and provide an observation of what’s happening when we interact with technology. “A lot of the scenarios I set up ...

12 FOR OUR 12TH BARBARA PEACOCK BARBARA PEACOCK: SELECTIONS FROM AMERICAN BEDROOM AND HOMETOWN MAINE MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS. USM GLICKMAN LIBRARY 314 FOREST AVENUE PORTLAND, MAINE THROUGH MAY 19 FOR MORE INFORMATION: BARBARAPEACOCK.COM by Taryn Plumb She is the very image of a gypsy goddess: Spiraling dirty blonde hair, bra top and short shorts, draped atop a heap of blankets in the back of a pop-up camper, exhaling a willowy puff from a cigarette. Scattered around her: an ashtray ...

COVER STORY ON! PUSHING BACK THE DARK DILLON GALLERY SOUTH SHORE ART CENTER 119 RIPLEY ROAD COHASSET, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH APRIL 8 by Beth Neville “On! Pushing Back the Dark,” the current exhibit at the Dillon Gallery of the South Shore Art Center, promises to be an exciting experience for visitors and the participating creative artists alike. With the gallery skylight covered over and windows shuttered with dark curtains, the hollow, flame-blown glass sculptures will glow in the dark as neon ...

GALLERY SPOTLIGHT CANAL STREET ART GALLERY 23 CANAL STREET BELLOWS FALLS, VERMONT by Elayne Clift When the Canal Street Art Gallery opened its doors last November in Bellows Falls, VT, its inaugural “Group Show” of works by 18 local artists was praised by the town’s residents and by the larger art community of southern Vermont. Their response signaled that the gallery had succeeded in establishing an atmosphere that reflected the founders’ mission: To create a comfortable space for artists’ creativity ...

REVIEW ROBERT TODD AND DEB TODD WHEELER: ARTIFICIAL ATMOSPHERES NESTO GALLERY MILTON ACADEMY 170 CENTRE STREET MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS THROUGH APRIL 20 by Beth Neville Art technological innovation doesn’t have to use cutting-edge equipment. As Robert Todd and Deb Todd Wheeler demonstrate in “Artificial Atmospheres” at Milton Academy’s Nesto Gallery, six TV monitors, two projectors, old cameras and a lot of imagination can produce a complex set of visual images. The artists let their imaginations run free, capturing digital images filmed ...

NATIONAL ARTIST SPOTLIGHT MARK BRADFORD by Nancy Nesvet Mark Bradford makes a deliberate effort to personalize and reimagine history, leaving them in the same place artistically: redefining American history; contemporizing, personalizing and illustrating Americans’ history. His 10-year survey of past work at the ICA Boston (March 2010 to March 2011); his 2014 “Sea Monsters” show at Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum that was highlighted by his site-specific mural entitled “King’s Mirror”; and his successful nomination by former Rose Museum director ...

NATIONAL ARTIST SPOTLIGHT SAMUEL LEVI JONES by Nancy Nesvet In today’s world, the art of the cover-up is being torn apart and exposed. An artist with strong New England ties, Samuel Levi Jones — with his upcoming early-2019 show at Northeastern University, part of “Personal to Political” — is causing waves in the art world as he reveals, tears up, paints over and deconstructs history. In February 2017, Jones told me his work addresses “Systems of power and how we ...

by Brian Goslow Exploring the experiential, psychological and metaphorical implications of the nonvisual in American art from the 1960s to today,” Second Sight: The Paradox of Vision in Contemporary Art,” which opens on March 1 and continues through June 3 at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 9400 College Station, Bowdoin, Maine, “asks why and how numerous visual artists, such as William Anastasi, Robert Morris, Joseph Grigely and Lorna Simpson, challenge the primacy of vision as a bearer of perceptual ...

by Donna Dodson Not everyone can make their dreams come true. It takes hard work, careful planning and perseverance. Rose Bryant not only has what it takes — she has infected others with her vision for a vibrant art community in Exeter, New Hampshire. Bryant taught private art classes in her home studio in Exeter for 10 years. She created a community of artists by hosting outdoor shows, pop-up art exhibits and open houses. Wanting to find a permanent home ...